Braille braille refreshable braille
By Kim Kilpatrick
I have been reading braille since I was six. It has always been extremely important and crucial for me to use braille whenever and wherever I can.
Refreshable braille brought braille back into my life again after many years of little braille for me.
This was because I had a screen reader and audio books and was told I could not have braille text books and also that the screen reader on my computer would be enough for me to get things done.
When I got braille back and could use it with a computer, I cried!
The braille display hooked to my computer meant that I could turn speech off and just read and write in braille.
The way I always wanted.
I was so moved to be reading and writing again.
Apple has made it very easy to read and write braille with their I Devices and macs. They support most of the refreshable braille displays on the market. You can read and write braille (as I am doing now to create this post) with my Iphone and braille display.
You can also use their braille screen input to type braille with your fingers directly on to the screen of your device.
Exciting yes! If only android phones and devices would improve the program Braille Back so you could use contracted braille. But refreshable braille has been always very very expensive.
Well out of the range of many people who would love to use it.
Several projects are always in the works to bring down the price of braille displays.
The expensive part at the moment is the technology of the braille cells.
People are working on this.
One example is a group in the article below.
I would love to have a multi line, inexpensive braille display in the hands of all who would love to use it.
Thanks also to braille literacy Canada for your great conference call about braille last weekend.
http://www.brailleliteracy.ca
More about that in another post.
Here is the link to the article.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/news/stories/2015/december/bringing-braille-back-with-a-better-display-technology
GTT Program blog and resources 